Samurai Warriors 2 EmpiresReview

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A once-great action game that unfortunately lost its verve long ago.

By Douglass C. Perry

KOEI is up to its old tricks again. Unfortunately, that's a bad thing. Samurai Warriors 2 Empires, the simple action game with a smidgeon of strategy, is neither unique nor new, and sadly, there is nothing different or superior to the Xbox 360 iteration to recommend buying a next-gen version over a last-gen version.

Samurai Warriors 2 Empires is an example of KOEI's slow-going iterative development process, one that adds just enough of a tweak to legally call any new game a sequel. To date, the company has made more than a dozen games in this vein. All of them vary so minutely from the next that it's not only confusing to try and explain the differences between them all, it's relatively pointless.

Should you purchase yet another Samurai Warriors? Will this be "the one" to show them all up? Did the last two Samurai Warriors games turn your fingers blue by bashing the same buttons over and over again? Truth be told, Samurai Warriors 2 Empires will not wow you on either system. It will not deliver brand new gameplay or heavenly new graphics. Instead, what you will get is a strategy-infused action game that fictionalizes the Warring States era of Japan in gameplay.

There is little to no difference between the two versions, except for visual appearances. You'll get a great deal of set-up strategy, some of which is useful, some useless, a cyclical elimination system that functions a little like Risk, a decent variety of enemy classes with which to fight, and some good, old-fashioned button mashing. If you've beaten the last few Samurai Warriors or Dynasty Warrior games, Samurai Warriors 2 Empires won't do enough to warrant a new purchase. But if you have not played this type of game in a while, it warrants a look, simply because over time this brand of slogging is mildly addictive.

Samurai Warriors 2 Empires consists of a few modes of play, Free and Campaign. There is also a nice option to create your own hero, which can be leveled up in the meat and potatoes of the title, Campaign mode. It's where you'll set up invasions of other clans, defend against attacks, form short- and long-term alliances with other clans, and organize your armies. Since Dynasty Warriors 3, KOEI's Dynasty and Samurai games have enabled a second player to jump on board and play cooperatively via split-screen offline, and it's one of the game's biggest bonuses.

The Campaign mode offers you seven historic scenarios in which to engage. You'll start with regional scenarios and then move on to unification scenarios. Once you start taking over smaller territories in fights such as the Tonoku, the Kanto or the Chubu region, you reach a new stage. You'll then engage in unification scenarios including the famous battle of Kawanakajima (1561), the Unification of Kyushu (1561), the Unification of Chugoku (1561), the Unification of Kansai (1561), the Unification of Chubu (1561), the Unification of Kanto (1561), and the Unification of Tohoku (1561).

If this just looks like crazy historical nonsense, well, it's close, but it's not nonsense. Though KOEI might be guilty of repeating games 'til they're way past dead, it is very good at digging into Chinese and Japanese history and culture and re-creating past events in videogames. You'll re-live the Honnoji Incident where Oda Nobunaga met his end, and engage in the largest and most pronounced battle of its time, The Battle of Kawanakajima. KOEI recommends the famous battle of Kawanakajima (1561) for starters, and provides information on the warring factions of that year. Strange as it may seem, you can learn quite a bit of history from these games.

As suspected, the main goal of the Campaign mode is to become the most powerful clan lord of Japan, and you'll do so by forming allies with other factions, growing crops and managing money, delegating lieutenants to fight particular battles, growing your own set of skills, and increasing the strength of your armor and weaponry. The game starts off slowly, which is one of its many weak points. Unlike previous games where you'll be given a little bit of leeway to start with, here you're thrown right in to the foray. You'll have few allies and no points to your character to begin with, but after a few successful fights and enough level-up points to your character, weapons and army, the game slowly ascends into moderate fun.